SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced the industry's first real-time optical modulation analyzer with a bandwidth of 63 GHz. The new instrument allows researchers to characterize the latest coherent receivers and ultrafast transmitters with a sample rate of 160 GSa/s at 63 GHz electrical bandwidth.

The system is capable of real-time sampling on four channels, each with 33 GHz bandwidth, in a single oscilloscope. Agilent will demonstrate the instrument at ECOC (Booth 712), Sept. 17-19, in Amsterdam.

The N4391A real-time optical modulation analyzer offers comprehensive tools to analyze and quantify the integrity of a vector-modulated signal for error-vector magnitude, quadrature error and other impairments. The N4391A offers measurement and compensation of the link's in-channel chromatic dispersion and first-order polarization mode dispersion by analyzing the received signals, granting engineers deep insight into the root cause of constellation distortions beyond 32 Gbaud.

For the greatest flexibility, users can process the raw digitized data coming from the N4391A's optical coherent receiver using the Microsoft .NET(r) framework and include the results as a user-provided library. For flexible data analysis, customers can include their algorithms in the burst-mode processing system of the N4391A. The N4391A can handle any number of algorithms in a user-selectable sequence.

"At Agilent we are committed to helping our customers speed up the development of next-generation coherent components and subsystems," said Joachim Peerlings, marketing manager of Agilent's Digital Photonic Test business. "Whether they use the latest generation of the N4391A optical modulation analyzer in research, or they use the portable, compact N4392A real-time modulation analyzer in manufacturing and system integration, our customers can rely on consistent measurements throughout the entire design cycle of their products."

At ECOC 2012, Agilent will demonstrate the Infiniium 90000 Q-Series oscilloscope with industry-leading bandwidth up to 63 GHz, the industry's highest four-channel bandwidth with 33 GHz in a single frame, and the industry's lowest noise and jitter measurement floor.

An additional demonstration will show how to perform real-time modulation analysis of a 100-Gb/s dual-polarization QPSK signal using the compact, portable and affordable N4392A, an instrument suitable for 100-Gb/s RD, manufacturing and system integration applications.

U.S. Pricing and Availability The N4391A optical modulation analyzer is available today in various configurations up to 33-GHz bandwidth, based on a single Infiniium real-time oscilloscope. Configurations up to 63-GHz bandwidth are scheduled for shipment at the end of 2012.

The N4392A compact optical modulation analyzer is available today, with prices starting at $151,000.

A backgrounder on optical component test technology and Agilent's solutions is available at www.agilent.com/find/oct_backgrounder.

Agilent has created a photonic test webcast series titled "How to Be Ready for 40/100G Optical Networks and Components." Further details and registration information is available at Photonic Webcast Series.

About Agilent Technologies Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is the world's premier measurement company and a technology leader in chemical analysis, life sciences, diagnostics, electronics and communications. The company's 20,000 employees serve customers in more than 100 countries. Agilent had net revenues of $6.6 billion in fiscal 2011. Information about Agilent is available at www.agilent.com.